Monday, October 31, 2005


last night's dinner Posted by Picasa
Kebabs, aubergine skewers, spicy potatoes, ajvar and garlic sauce. Tres lebanese- inspired.
The kebabs are made with pork/ beef minced meat and moulded together with lots of cumin, paprica, chopped onion, garlic powder and salt and pepper.
The aubergine is sliced, salted and grilled with olive oil.
The potatoes are first microwaved until soft, then tossed in a pan with garlic powder, paprica, vindaloo curry powder, cayenne pepper, olive oil and a bit of honey and soy sauce on top. Sauteed for a few minutes at high temp, then I added about half a glass of water and let the potatoes suck up the juices.
The ajvar is store bought! :P (red coloured mixed vegetable paste)
And finally, I made the garlic sauce with chopped, pickled cucumber (for lack of fresh cucumber), one crushed garlic clove, salt, pepper, a bit of dill, oil and vinegar to taste.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Mushroom

The mushroom picking season is now officially over.. It's getting too cold. Right now it's about 4 degrees out and raining... Ugh! I think I prefer snowy weather, at least the day isn't as dark and grim when it's all white outside. This is entirely all too mid-season, and it's not even fall weather, it's the thing after fall and before winter. It can be a little depressing.
Below though you can see two pics I snapped at out last (and first ever for me) forest visit and mushroom picking. I also have a nice recipe to share which came about as a result of the forest visit. Later! *mwahs*


Mushroom of Sweden. Posted by Picasa


Mushroom of Sweden 2 Posted by Picasa


first snow of the season... :( Posted by Picasa

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Catering

My catering stint went excellent! Saturday was a great experience, it really showed me what it takes to feed 40 hungry swedish people. Who love their meat. And the meat (chicken in this case) happened to be frozen solid at 2 o'clock (dinner scheduled for 7) because someone forgot to take it out of the freezer the previous day... But we managed! Me and the fiance really busted our asses in the kitchen, trying to pry chicken pieces away from each other and defrosting in the microwave 3 pieces at a time (total amount of chicken: 7 kilos). But hey it worked! By the way, the chicken was made with a special coating of grated ginger, chopped fresh chillies and topped off with greek honey. It was wonderfully crusty and sweet/spicy. Dishes also offered:
Oven baked potatoes with garlic, oregano, oil and lemon
Couscous salad with eggplant, zucchini and onion grilled in a balsamico/ sugar sauce
Penne with mozzarella, fresh tomatoes and fresh basil
Cabbage, carrot and rocket salad flavoured with garlic
Greek style spicy meatballs
Lots of tzatziki (at the request of a lot of people..)

I think we did good. I hope I get the chance to cook again professionally, I just love it. I feel it is really rewarding to see that people like your food. Perhaps I should consider some professional education in the matter? Hm.


Chicken with chilli, ginger and honey glazing, before Posted by Picasa


Chicken etc after Posted by Picasa

Friday, October 14, 2005


Food waiting to be cooked... Posted by Picasa
Tomorrow I am going to be undertaking my first ever catering gig. I have never done this before semi-professionally, and I say semi because the guy that is having the party is a friend. I'm going to have to pull through for 40 people tomorrow. I've never cooked for so many before, but I have faith:D And I also have about 6 bags chock full of groceries awating treatment. Perhaps this will be the beginning of a whole new career for me. Orrr perhaps I'll have to go back to freelance translating ;) I'll let you know how it went.

Thursday, October 13, 2005


A nice, well done, juicy greek steak, grilled on hot coal. This meat is marinated only in lemon juice, salt and oregano. That's all you need really. Posted by Picasa


and the perfect match to it, a simple greek salad. Basically it's diced tomatoes and cucumber, seasoned with oregano, salt, olive oil and vinegar. Sometimes I cheat and add a little bit of sugar. You can also add feta- always a good idea :) Posted by Picasa


Light through the wine Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, October 12, 2005


Grilled, deliciously sweet red peppers Posted by Picasa

This is a classic greek summer sidedish. These particular peppers are called "Florina" peppers, from a specific area in Greece. But any sweet, juicy red pepper should do the trick.
What you do is, you take the peppers and grill them in the oven, until the skin is a bit blackish and looks like it can be easily peeled off. Then you wait until they cool down a bit and peel them. If the peppers you are using are bulbous bell peppers, you may want to cut them into thinner slices as well. Finally, you serve them with olive oil, vinegar, chopped fresh parsley and some chopped garlic. Not too much garlic, as it can be overpowering. Excellent with grilled meat!


Ze smooching sardines!! Posted by Picasa

Fresh sardines, one of the healthiest fish you can eat, are wonderful baked in the oven with lots of onion, sliced garlic, oregano, salt and olive oil. Bake until nicely crusty.
If you're feeling naughty, you can add a bit of grated tomato to the mix. Mmm.

Friday, October 07, 2005

Hello there!! I'm finally back, after a little over 6 weeks, and I had an amazing time! Family, beautiful beaches, great food, I got a tan!! I hope I can keep it for a couple of months.. I can tell you it was pretty hard to get back into the swing of things in Sweden, what with the weather being all grey and rather unpleasant and all. I went from tank top to wool coat. I also went from girlfriend to fiancee!! Me and the boyfriend got engaged, so now I have to get sued to saying "fiance" instead of "boyfriend". I took tons of wonderful pictures too! I think I'll share some with you :


sunset on Lefkada Posted by Picasa


boy's favourite view of the Acropolis in Athens Posted by Picasa


aren't I tanned! :D Posted by Picasa


awesome picture.  Posted by Picasa


my ring! Posted by Picasa


beach Posted by Picasa


it's the diva mo' Posted by Picasa


boy in the sun Posted by Picasa


sunning ourselves :) Posted by Picasa